Clothing which is worn over the shoulder and arms such as sweaters, shirts and coats come in many shapes and sizes. However the majority of the conventional type hangers come in only one size. Conventional hangers usually are made of wire or rigid plastic or metal rods providing a hook and neck centered perpendicularly to a shoulder with left and right opposing arms protruding at a downward angle. Consequently clothing, specifically those articles of clothing with a neck portion, shoulders and arms, may be too narrow or too wide across the shoulder lines for a conventional hanger. In such situations the article of clothing does not hang on the hanger properly and is at risk of becoming permanently distorted by the hanger. Typical distortion as caused by creasing, stretching or over stressing localized areas of the clothing fabric, specifically in the neck, which is pulled in either direction from its center downward. Also prone is the shoulder region where bumps may develop as the weight of the clothing article pulls downward with gravity and the tips of the standard garment hanger push out at the shoulder area causing protrusions or bumps in the region. This distortion problem becomes worse with heavier garments e.g.: overcoats, jackets and sweaters, especially with open weaves. Knit garments are particularly prone to the problem of distortion.
In addition, the conventional garment hanger is often made from wire or of molded, virgin or recycled plastic or polymer material and mixtures thereof that produce a smooth, slick or slippery surface, which allows the garment to easily slide down or off the hanger. A garment of a knitted construction or of a stretchable material pulls downward with gravity from the center of the neck opening on either or both sides of the shoulder line causing a garment to distort from its original shape.
In addition, some articles of clothing require special wash and dry considerations. It is not advisable to dry any sweaters or knit in the clothes dryer due to shrinkage problems. Since hanging wet items produces significant distortions in the neck and shoulder areas of the garment, wet items need to be laid on a flat surface to dry, which is not always convenient.
Because the conventional garment hanger fails to provide the means of addressing different sized garments and does not adequately support some garments such as sweaters, knits and stretchable, a conventional hanger fails the retail merchandisers necessity to display their clothing articles attractively.
In order to provide background information so that the invention may be completely understood and appreciated in its proper context, reference is made to a number of prior patents including flexible, adjustable and slip resistant hangers. For example:
U.S. Pat. 5,826,759 (1997) to Ohaugi, discloses a hanger formed of two loops of flexible material, each having a first and second end for suspending clothing. Resizing of the hanger is done with a mechanical apparatus located under and behind the hook used to hang hanger from a rod. The flexible units of this hanger rely on maintaining their position through the same mechanical devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,464 (1996) to Huang discloses a length adjustable clothes hanger comprised of flexible arms with an elongated restraining member having two ends that contain and maintain the hanger arms in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,358 (1996) to Long, Lowman and Lord discloses and extensible clothes hanger. The hanger includes extending, planar members that extend or retract into a central base. Movement of the extending planar members is accomplished when a person presses down the center button, that is situated on either arm, and then pulling outward or pushing inward. Hanger must therefore be adjusted before clothing article is hung upon the hanger.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,718,362 (1996) to Silverman discloses a telescopic sleeve device that is moveable in either direction allowing the hanger to maintain a small or a large profile but made of smooth molded plastic and clothes can easily miss align.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,710 (1996) to Ar-Fu Lam discloses a hanger with extendible arms through a means of gears and ratchets.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,627 (1995) to Marks discloses a hanger with two inclined arms with an integrally formed locking bar that extends from the integral base to a free distal end.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,927 (1994) to Garrison discloses a non slip hanger but without any adjustably function.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,701 (1994) to Lam discloses an adjustable width garment hanger made of a rigid material having a gear and ratchet system that allows the hanger arms to move in a longitudinal way.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,199 (1994) to Halverson and Halverson discloses and extendible clothes hanger that uses movably adjustable, extendible clothing support arms enabling the side to side or lateral extension of hanger. Hanger is of the plastic type with a thin frame that could cause stress to clothing materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,054 (1992) to Nutter an adjustable hanger made of a rigid material that uses a laterally disposed spring and screw tension device to secure each of the laterally adjustable arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,345 (1992) to Ozaki is a standard sized hanger made of a rigid material with the added application of a slip resistant material situated on the top of each of the hanger arm tips.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,916 (1991) to Kolton is a standard sized hanger with flexible raised pads placed on the top of each hanger arm surface to resist slipping of garments. There is no means for size adjustment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,098 (1991) to Tung discloses a foldable and telescopic garment hanger made of a rigid material with a pair of sliding arm members telescopically mounted to stationary arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,358 (1990) to Lam discloses a hanger with arms that move along the stationary arms to a desired length. The extender arms also have shoulder support pads. Hanger does not have any slip resistant features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,152 (1990) discloses a garment hanger with adjustable clamping crossbar embodies two shoulder members bifurcated from the central member and providing extendible shoulder members. Made of rigid material this invention would need to be adjusted before garment is placed upon it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,649 (1990) to Hazenveld discloses a garment hanger having cooperative interconnected resilient and flexible members. Flexible arm members must be adjusted and held into place via a restraining member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,877 (1989) to Gatling discloses an adjustable hanger made of a rigid material with moving sleeves that have a smooth surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,053 (1987) to Wang discloses a hanger with sliding shoulder sections that are set to the desired length with a button that employs its opening on the opposing section.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,729 (1967) to Hannum discloses a hanger with telescoping shoulder extensions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,426 (1954) to Miller discloses a hanger with telescoping adjustable shoulders.
While the clothes hanger arrangements shown by the above prior art generally provide adjustable means for supporting garments of variable sizes, and hangers with slip resistant features, none of these patented hangers, together or combined, discloses or suggests the overall design and configuration of the present invention. All of the flexible, slip resistant garment hangers heretofore known suffer from one or more of the following disadvantages:
a) Overly complicated designs. Some include gears, ratchets, wheels, restraining members, buttons, slots and locking mechanisms. PA0 b) Difficulty sizing the hanger. Many of the above patented hangers have two or mechanisms that need to be adjusted via buttons, slides, ratchets, gears. PA0 c) Difficulty customizing hanger to garment. Because of the design many of the above patented hangers need to be adjusted before the garment is hung thus reducing the probability of an exact fit. PA0 d) Narrowness of the arm diameter. Distribution of weight is limited and thereby stresses materials burdened upon the hanger's narrow diameter. Specifically a sweater, knit, heavy or a wet garment hung to dry is exceptionally prone to stress. PA0 f) Lack of true flexibility. Many of the above hangers include the word `flexible` in the title but are actually rigid in nature, and can not mimic the human shape.
All of the above patented hangers do not offer a flexibility with a directionally unlimited range of motion or the ability to imitate the movements of a human arm, therefore they are not desirable for the retail display industry.